I’ve done spontaneous trips before, but a day trip to Stockholm is a new one for me…
Settle down kids, it's storytime
And it’s a pretty good one if I do say so myself. I’ve actually been meaning to write this post since the trip actually happened in January. However, life got in the way, I started uploading to my blog less frequently and focusing on my Uni work and my poor mental health, and I never quite did. But, 9 months down the line, I believe it’s a story that needs to be told, so here I am telling it.
It all started back in the New Year...
Big Ben had sounded, the fireworks had popped, and the Ryan Air flight sale was way underway. I had little to no money because the student loan hadn’t kicked in yet and I was broke from Christmas, and I was convinced that I wouldn’t be doing anything fun before I went back to Uni. However, then I made the fatal mistake of checking Twitter…
Somebody had tweeted about the Ryan Air flight sale… Absolutely fine – I have a strong enough willpower to stop myself browsing through websites I can’t currently afford. However, then somebody mentioned that there were flights for as little as £9, and the travel bug in me took over. Before I knew it, I’d found £9 flights to Stockholm, Sweden for the following week, and had sent a message to my (also broke) friends to see if anyone felt like a last-minute holiday. The more we discussed it, the more we realised that accommodation etc. would hike the price up. However, then I had the genius idea that set the trip in motion…
When you accounted for the length of the flight (2 hours) and the times that they had, it was possible to take off at 6:30, getting there for 9:45 am, and leave at 6:10 pm, getting back to London at 7:35, still giving us a good 8 hour day in Stockholm. Extravagant? Maybe at first glance. However, when you think about the fact that we take day trips to other cities in the UK and it takes more time and often costs far more on the train… It doesn’t seem so ludicrous.
The Logistics
Once we’d really thought it through, we got the money together and I sent my parents a quick “I’m going to Stockholm next week btw, be back in the evening” text, to which they were surprisingly chill about. We ended up splurging a bit on the flight back considering that we were doing it in one day, and got a slightly more expensive return flight so that we could come back at the right time for us. However, altogether our flights came to a total of £35, which is quite a steal when you think about it.
We ended up sleeping for about an hour the night before because there’s no real point in sleeping when you have a 6 am flight the next day. So after a sleepy taxi to the airport and a nap on the plane, we found ourselves at Stockholm Skavsta airport, where we then boarded a (£35 return, which we bought in advance) coach from the airport to Stockholm centre and went about our day in Stockholm.
8 hours in Stockholm
I’m usually a massive planner. However, we booked this trip a week before we were going, and I had no money and didn’t want to think about how much it would cost, so we decided we’d just get to Stockholm and go with the flow. As we stepped off the coach to the freezing (minus 2-degrees Celcius) weather, we gathered into a local coffee shop and actually got Googling. The goal was simple: Do as many fun things as we could for as little money as possible. Turns out, that was actually easier than it seemed. Aside from the exploring, sightseeing and photo taking, we settled on 3 main things…
(Window) shopping
Though they do have a lot of the same chain stores that we do, they obviously have a lot that we don’t here in England, and I am easily amused. Just looking through a department store or drugstore and noticing the difference in products is fun for me. And I actually ended up buying some face masks for my FOREO device, because they had more variety than we do in England.
Ice skating
When Googling cheap and local things that we could do, ice skating seemed to be a really popular suggestion. Turns out that Stockholm has some truly beautiful and spacious lakes, and in January a lot of them are iced over and turned into ice rinks. The largest of the lakes was a 10-minute walk away from us, and was free to use, only charging for skate rental. It cost roughly £7 each.
Museum time
Though I’m not a massive museum fan (Love education, but museums just don’t do anything for me), my friend was and a lot of their museums were free. So, we ended our trip with a visit to their Museum of war. The museum was around a 25-minute walk away from the ice rink, which is fine on a normal day, but a lot harder when you’re freezing. However, it was free and informative.
The snags...
As we were doing this trip in one day, it was obviously a very time-sensitive operation. Which, of course, leaves plenty of room for things to go wrong. Though the trip itself was pretty successful, and I had a lovely time, there were a few rough patches.
Whilst the coach from Stockholm Skavsta to Stockholm centre was incredibly easy and straightforward, it was also incredibly infrequent. The way there was fine as it waits for everyone on your flight to get on, but the way back you obviously have to get there yourself. Thanks to a pretty awful Uber driver, we missed the last coach back to the airport as it was at a pretty early time. So, we ended up having to frantically take a train and a bus there. It was fine, we still got there with plenty of time. But we missed out on the pre-paid coach ticket.
Though taking a 6:30 am coach ride to ensure maximum time in Stockholm is a good idea, in theory, it does mean that no trains are running to the airport that early. So, since neither of us was equipped to drive on the motorway, we had no choice but to take a taxi. Luckily, it didn’t end up costing that much between the two of us. However, that’s something to keep in mind.
So I went to Stockholm for a day
And you know what? I would definitely do it again. Even with the snags, we kept it cheap, and, having taken place on the 15th January, it was such a great start to the year. It was probably one of the most extravagant spontaneous things that I’d done, and it proved to me that with a little planning, I can make things happen, even if they seem a tad far fetched. Thank you Ryan Air flight sale, and thank the Universe for giving me friends that are willing to do weird things with me.
Have you ever been to Stockholm? Or done a day trip abroad? Let me know in the comments!
Lots of love,
Jas xx
Do you know what’s not too far away? These images and your opportunity to pin them:
I have never thought about doing this! I am absolutely going to book a spontaneous day trip abroad next year (although if I’m planning to do it, is it spontaneous?)
Hahaha I’d say it still counts 😉 Please let me know if you do a spontaneous trip! Xxx
This honestly sounds so damn fun, me you and Al HAVE to do this at some point!! I do like a good museum but I’m more for ones that are visually interesting, reading shit tons of facts bores me quickly… I’d love to do something like this even just for the spontaneity and experience, definitely a good story to tell 🙂
Alice Xx
http://www.blacktulipbeauty.co.uk
We 100% have to! I’m the same with museums, can’t wait for our adventures in the New Year! xx
Wow this sounds amazing! I would never have thought to do something like this before – I didn’t even know it was possible really. Sounds like you had an amazing day!
I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for the Ryan air flight sale in future to try and have some adventures of my own!
Let me know if you have any! xx
This is amazing. And it would take me at least 3 and a half to four hours to get to London from where I live and a return would definitely cost more than your flights, so hopping on a two hour flight for a day seems totally logical and perfectly reasonable. I’m questioning whether my reasoning skills are okay as I’m typing…BUT this definitely sounds like a fun day (minus coach issues) and would 100% do this. Really enjoyed reading about your mini adventure x
Sophie
Hahaha I’m so glad that you too see it as perfectly logical and reasonable because no one else around me seemed to! You should 100% do it at some point! xx
This sounds great! My friend and I are heading to Rome in January and we’re planning a quick day trip to Florence! We have to grab a train there and back and hopefully we don’t run into any snags – would be an interesting turn of events if we get trapped in Florence for the night lol
Casey Anne | https://ItsCaseyAnne.com
Hahaha would love to hear what ends up happening! xx
Love that you just went for it and rolled with the hiccups!!
Hahaha yeah it was a real roll with the hiccups kind of moment! xx
What a brilliant idea! I have been so tempted by the Ryanair sales but have never followed through, but maybe I should! A great post!
You definitely should at some point! It was quite an experience! xx